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I once heard a phrase from a US mason, "we don't need more men in masonry, but more masonry in men". I love that. A large membership is not a guarantee for many masons. It is usually on the contrary. It is just an indication for financial force, and is financial force the cause why we come...

My lodge does not have a facebook page, and it won't, as long as I have something to say in that issue. My GL has a page on facebook, and many of my lodge's brothers strongly oppose it. In my eyes, facebook is something for private fun and shallow communication. It does not provide a surrounding...

Euskirchen is about 8 miles from where I live. So, if you go back to that arrea, drop me a note.

Welcome to Texas :-)

It is always a matter of what we are used to. In my Province, we have 14 lodges, 3 of them have less than 20 members, the smallest has 14 members. They always do the ritual themselves, only in real bad times (vacation season) they need one or two brothers from neigboring lodges to fill in...

In Germany, all lodges do their degrees by themselves. I think, nobody here would even have the idea to have it done by outsiders.

We have free men joining our craft. And it should be a free man's own decision, how he spends his time and his money. Many small lodges may need a member, who does not come, but pay. And it is the same, if you pay for a masonic project directly or via lodge fees. But if a brother wants it this...

Please look at my location. That's why I wrote in our legal system. Believe me, the german civil law is very different to yours. A mason is a member of his lodge, not the grand lodge. GL consists of 7 members, our 5 regular grand lodges plus 2 singular lodges, because a legal society needs a...

In our legal system, that would not work. GL can withdraw the charter and the lodge is no lodge anymore, but it is still a civil society, like a club, and its members have the sole power to determine what happens with the assets. Very few lodges have it written into their articles, that, after...

Well, I don't know, how lights are used in your ritual. In the ritual I know, candles are lit, after all brothers sat down, or are in positions where no brothers walk. At least in craft lodge. I never saw anyone going up in flames and never heard about such an event in the history. I knocked...

In my lodge, all brothers wear top hat, not only the master.

That sounds terrible. We have one so called economic meeting per year, and I dislike it every time. I attend, because it is a necessary evil and my duty as a member, but in my lodge, degree meetings are the ground why we meet at all.

I agree with Cliff. We have 13,000 freemasons in Germany, divided into 5 (not 4) grand lodges. The smallest have about 300 members. It is really a question, if one of those really needs to be a GL with all the grand honours and posts. Her lodges could be managed by another GL as well. Our...

Your friend cannot break any masonic law. They just do not apply to him. These are internal community rules without any legal character outside that community. At least, that's how it is here, and I doubt it is much different in the US.

Ritual and education enlight the brothers. That is our main concern. To do this in a relaxed atmosphere, we make family events, to bring the wifes and kids into the group, so they feel welcomed and have an easier time, letting their husbands and fathers go. For us, charity is not a goal of...

Well, if you start to do that, it really often ends in insanity. For example: In this case, the "square" don't even has a right angle, so every roughly diamond shaped body becomes a masonic symbol. Our symbols are made out of geometrical forms, so are most man made objects. It may be fun, but...

Well, here you are an EA for a much longer time than in the USA, usually between 9 and 12 months, sometimes longer, if the end of the time falls in the summer break. So you have a good chance to meet an EA or FC, when you meet a brother.

Well, that is not so general. It depends on the jurisdiction, you are in. In mine, you are called a brother and a mason in the initiation ritual.

I guess no lodge is "as good as it gets", although I voted this way. But in my feeling, making improvements or changes is just a way to keep the level.

Sleeping on the square?